After Hours
by The Writer On the Wall
Summary: My take on how the squad could find out about Shandy. It's just a little something that came to mind. Pretty pointless. A complete waste of time to read if you ask me :) Betad by colonelvegemite.


It was a late hour and the office was dimly lit. Everyone had already left the murder room. The case they had worked on for the past several days was a tough one to close. It took a lot of time and effort from the squad; they decided to go for a drink and celebrate, before saying goodbye for the weekend.

Sharon was the only one who stayed behind. She had to finish the paperwork if she wanted peace and quiet over the weekend. Besides, she wasn't in a rush, since Rusty told her he was going to the library until late hours.

The office door opened and startled her. She had seen everyone leave a minute ago, and suddenly she realized she wasn't alone. Her surprised expression changed quickly to a smile, as she saw it was Andy at the door. He smiled back at her and walked up to her desk.

"I thought you left with everyone else."

She made her voice sound monotonic on purpose, so shedidn't come off as needy. Truth be told, she had hoped he'd wait for her so they could spend the rest of the evening together. She needed that, after the intense week they'd had at work, and with Rusty out, it was the perfect opportunity. When he left with the rest of the squad, she was a little disappointed, although she had every intention of keeping that particular emotion to herself. The romantic aspect of their relationship was so new;she didn't feel she had any right to expect anything from himyet. Besides, so far he had exceeded her expectations when it came to romance. It might have been due to the very low bar that Jackson set, but he made her happy. Andy seemed to know his way to a woman's heart.

"It wasn't easy, insisting that I was too tired to join them. They tried to convince me to come anyway..." Andy leaned on the desk, bringing his face very close to hers. He lowered his voice to a husky level. "But there was something else I had to do."

"Oh?" Sharon knew exactly what he was talking about.

"I've been thinking about it all day. All week, actually," he came an inch closer. Their noses were almost touching.

"We shouldn't... in the office..." she whispered, knowing already that it was a lost battle. The thought of his arms around her made it very hard for her to resist.

"I made sure that everyone got into the elevator before I came here. Besides... technically, we're not on the clock anymore."

Sharon knew that it was a ridiculous claim. It didn't matter that they were off the clock; they were still in the office. But there was nothing she could do about it when she felt his lips brushing hers, a second before he kissed her. Her eyes closed and she got a strange, weightless sensation, as if she was rising up in the air into another dimension, where nothing else existed but this moment. His touch felt so comforting, like all of the problems of the world, all the agony from their latest investigation - they weren't so heavy. They lost their importance all of a sudden. All she thought about at that precise moment was being at home with him, preferably in his arms.

Andy pulled back a little. The loss of his touch sucked her back into reality so quickly that it was almost physically painful. They looked in each other's eyes with silly grins on their faces. Sharon thought their expressions would probably look like those of teenagers in love to a random bystander.

At that exact moment, she caught movement in the corner of her eye. She looked beyond Andy and saw the entire squad standing at the entrance to the murder room, looking at them through the glass walls. Her heart skipped a beat and she pushed her chair backwards, away from Andy.

"Oh, no," she muttered as she watched Provenza hurrying everyone back to the elevators and out of sight. She got up and walked around the desk, eyes fixed on the area where the squad was just a second ago. "No, no no... I didn't want it to happen now. Not like that..." she said quietly, more to herself than to Andy.

He walked to her side and put his hand on her shoulder. "Is it really that bad? They were bound to find out at some point, weren't they?"

Sharon turned to him with a disappointed expression on her face. "I wanted to give it a little more time, to... establish our relationship. It should've been just ours for a while..."

"It will always be just ours," Andy smiled.

"You know what I mean," she said gently, dropping her gaze to the floor. He took a step forward, getting close enough to put a palm on her cheek, which made her look up.

She couldn't remember if she had ever felt like this before. The look in his eyes when he was looking into hers had some kind of power over her; it was a terrifying sensation, floating out of control, yet at the same time, it felt like the safest state to be in. The squad finding out about them suddenly didn't feel so bad.

"At least we don't have to hide anymore."

He used his low, sultry voice again, and she knew what was going to happen in a few moments.

"You know that doesn't give you a free pass to my office, right?"

Andy was relieved to see the little smile back on her face. "Yeah, I know, I know. Personal stuff only after hours," he placed his free hand on her other cheek and she nodded from between his hands. He found it pretty endearing. "May I remind you again that we are now, in fact, _after hours?_ "

He knew she was about to find a way around the after-hours rule, and make it even harder on him, but before she could answer, he kissed her again. He wondered when she would finally be ready to move to the next level of their relationship. He had no intention of pressuring her with the matter. If necessary, he was willing to wait a very long time. As much as she needed. But still... he couldn't help thinking about it. A lot. Different possible scenarios raced through his mind, getting him pretty worked up. He knew she could feel it.

"Okay, okay..." Sharon chuckled as she pulled back, gently trying to calm him like she would a naughty child. She walked around the desk to get her purse, glad to give her body a chance to regulate her breathing and heartbeats. She had to put a stop to it before they both lost control.

"I'm going home," she said eventually, as she walked to the door. Andy's surprised-disappointed face made her stifle a giggle. "You can join me if you like, we can order in."

He moved quickly to her side, trying to walk as close as possible to her. She saw him out of the corner of her eye, and thought that his enthusiastic behavior was similar to that of a puppy. It made her want to kiss him again, but she restrained herself. There would be plenty of time for that at home and in the future, seeing that Rusty fled to his room whenever Andy was around. That was an issue for another day, though. Today she was too tired for more angst.

"Okay, new rule -" she started.

"Oh, no, here she comes," he teased her.

"Who?"

"Captain Raydor with her rule book."

Sharon bumped against his shoulder as they walked, stifling another giggle. One of the things she liked most about him was his ability to make her laugh, even after rough days.

"Yes, speaking of ranks... I know I said _personal matters only after hours_ , but now I'm adding: _and outside of the office_."

For a moment, he was silent. It was only after several steps that he said, "okay, sure. How long do you think that rule would last? Because I don't think you'll be able to resist the urge."

"Oh, really?" she tried to sound as serious as she could.

"Yup."

"Watch me."

Sharon walked a few more steps before she realized he had stopped, and turned to him.

"What are you doing?"

"Watching you."

Sharon was amazed. Not by what he said, she knew he was just teasing her. But his face had the most mischievous expression shehad ever seen on him. It was like she could read his mind; she knew exactly what was going through it. That knowledge brought a deep shade of red to her cheeks, and caused a heat wave to surge through her body.

She rolled her eyes at him, smiling, and stepped into the elevator, hearing his footsteps right behind her.

"The elevator doesn't count as part of the office, right? So, we're technically _after hours and out of the office_ ," Andy said as the doors closed.


End file.
